Mr Sylvain's view was formed by President Obama's $80bn bailout of Chrysler and General Motors in 2008 when both faced bankruptcy.

One in eight jobs in Ohio is said to relate to the car building industry, when GM laid off 10,000 workers four years ago the knock on effects were felt throughout the state.

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The bailout is credited with putting a stop to the haemorrhaging of jobs and the President can count on many votes because of that.

Not everyone buys that argument, countering that the two companies could have applied for bankruptcy, restructured, kept going, but not used tax payers money to save big business.

The latter is a primarily a view held by those who will vote for the Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

In 2008, he famously wrote that if the companies got the bailout money "you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye". The article was headlined Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.

The majority of voters in Ohio take one view or the other and will vote accordingly but they are split almost 50/50 making this one of the key swing states.

By Monday night, the two candidates and their running mates will have made 83 trips to Ohio during the election campaign - a modern record.

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All four men are chasing the dwindling number of undecided voters who could swing the vote one way or the other.

There are other factors involved in the voting patters, such as healthcare, but fundamentally the election is about the economy and in Ohio the auto bailout is a key factor in how people think about that.

The final poll by the Columbus Despatch media group released on Sunday evening had President Obama leading by two points which is within the margin of error for polls.

Despite what each candidate says neither will yet be confident they have won the 'Buckeye State'.